


Payback

by ShayneyL



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 02:39:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13204023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayneyL/pseuds/ShayneyL
Summary: Tuvok gets his revenge for Tom and Harry's holodeck pranks.If Vulcans pursued revenge.  Which of course they don't.  That would be illogical.





	Payback

**Author's Note:**

> For Kim, [@thatadroitgeek](http://thatadroitgeek.tumblr.com/)
> 
> It's her [Star Trek Secret Santa 2017](https://star-trek-secret-santa.tumblr.com/) gift. She said her favorite character was Janeway, her favorite pairing was Tom & Harry (as friends, not lovers), and requested no angst and no NSFW.
> 
> This story does contain the word "homoerotic," but I swear, this Tom and Harry are just friends. (Stay out of the next universe over, though. That Tom and Harry are doing unspeakable things with whipped cream, handcuffs, and leola root.)

  


       Harry put down his final tile as Tom stared in disbelief. "'Neckings' is not a word!" Tom protested.

       "Yes it is," Harry replied. He dug his toes into the holographic sand and grinned at Tom over the Scrabble board. "It's the plural of 'necking.'"

       "'Necking' is not a noun! It can't have a plural!"

       "Get your mind out of the gutter, Paris. I meant the engineering term."

       Engineering term? That didn't sound like an engineering term to him. "You're bluffing."

       "Challenge me, then."

       Well, at this point, he had nothing to lose. "Computer, definition of the word 'necking.'"

       "Engineering: The narrowing in a ductile material under tension, when loaded past the ultimate tensile strength. Architecture: A narrowing in a column or —"

       "Computer, shut up!" Tom said. Scowling, he picked up a padd and began adding up Harry's score. 

       "Don't forget to count the K triple. And I get a bonus for using all my letters, don't I?"

       Tom looked at Harry suspiciously. Sprawled on the sand in a t-shirt and shorts instead of the usual uniform, he looked far too young and innocent to be as devious as Tom was beginning to suspect he was.

       "You've played Scrabble before, haven't you?" Tom accused.

       "I might have, now that you mention it," Harry conceded.

       Tom dropped the padd and threw himself over the gameboard, on top of Harry. Tiles scattered into the sand. "No one hustles Tom Paris without paying the price!" he said, pinning his friend beneath him. 

       Harry twisted, and suddenly Tom was on the bottom, Harry sitting on his stomach. "That demonstration of the principle of leverage was brought to you by Harry 'The Hammer' Kim, first seed on the Academy varsity wrestling team in the under-74 kilo division, 2370-2371," he announced.

       Using brute force, Tom threw Harry off and rolled on top of him again. "Unfortunately, I'm six centimeters taller than you and outweigh you by twenty kilos...runt!"

       Again, Harry flipped them over. "It's not the force, it's how you apply it," he said smugly.

       "Yeah?" Tom asked. "I didn't realize wrestling was so intellectual."

       "It is," Harry said. "You really have to have a good understanding of physics—" He broke off as Tom took advantage of his distraction to break Harry's hold and roll on top of him again.

       "Age and treachery will always win out over youth and skill, Harry," Tom said. "Now, are you going to apologize for deceiving your good pal Tommy?"

       "When targs fly," Harry said, laughing. 

       "All right, I guess I'm going to have to make you eat sand...ooof!" Tom yelped as he was hauled off of Harry by his shirt collar. Startled, he looked up to meet Seven of Nine's cold blue gaze.

       "You will cease your assault on Ensign Kim," she ordered. 

       "Put him down, Seven," Harry protested, as Tom gaped wordlessly. "We were just horsing around."

       "There are no equines in evidence," Seven said, looking around the holodeck as if she expected to see horses among the clusters of crew members enjoying Neelix's resort program. She dropped Tom, planting the heel of her sandal on a fold of Tom's loose shorts to keep him pinned to the sand. He was grateful she didn't plant it into his flesh. 

       She was as dressed down as she got, wearing a sleeveless catsuit and high heeled sandals. Too bad her attitude was as buttoned up as ever. 

       Tuvok appeared beside her. He, too, was casually dressed...for him, wearing a Vulcan robe instead of his usual uniform. Probably on captain's orders. "Is there a problem?"

       "Lt. Paris has committed an assault," Seven said. "And Ensign Kim appears to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome." 

       "Wait a minute..." Tom protested, while a choking noise came from Harry. "It was just a little horseplay, not assault."

       "Not for the first time," Tuvok said. Tom got the distinct impression he would have rolled his eyes, if Vulcans did such things. "Horseplay is an idiom," the security chief explained to Seven. "It refers to the tendency of juvenile or adolescent human males to engage in mock aggression."

       "And what is the purpose of this...mock aggression?"

       "I am unsure," Tuvok admitted. "Among the theories: practice for adult interactions, to expend excess energy, or to indulge homoerotic impulses in a socially acceptable manner." 

       Everyone was staring at them. Tom felt his ears burning, and Harry looked like he wanted a hole to open up in the sand and swallow him.

       "Curious," Seven said. She stepped back, freeing Tom. "But Lt. Paris, at least, is a sexually mature male, not a juvenile or adolescent." Seven looked toward B'Elanna for confirmation.

       B'Elanna, on a nearby lounge chair, didn't look up from her Klingon romance. "Age is irrelevant," she said. "Boys will be boys."

       Seven turned back to Tom and Harry. "Are these...'homoerotic impulses'...a prelude to copulation?"

       They stared at her, speechless. B'Elanna did look up, then. "If so, let me know. I want to watch," she said, grinning evilly. There were shouts of laughter from the rest of the crew.

       "B'Elanna!" Tom and Harry protested in unison. 

# # # # # #

       Captain Janeway watched, amused, as Seven's questions continued. Tom was doing a very credible imitation of a goldfish, turning orange and opening and closing his mouth soundlessly. Harry was casting desperate looks at his captain, hoping to be bailed out. 

       Janeway was not inclined to do that. At least not yet. She went up to Tuvok. "I was wondering when you were going to get your revenge for those holodeck pranks Tom and Harry are always playing on you."

       "Vulcans do not get revenge. It is illogical."

       "I see," the captain said, grinning. "Tell me, Tuvok...how is it that _Voyager_ 's chief of security can't keep a couple of overgrown adolescents from hacking into his holoprograms?"

       "You are correct, Captain," Tuvok conceded, after a pause. "It would be a simple matter to increase the security on my holoprograms. But if I did that, they would get into other mischief. It is their nature." He shrugged. "I am a Vulcan. Their...'pranks' do not disturb me."

       "I don't suppose you would admit that you find the interaction with them... fun, would you, Tuvok?"

       "Captain," Tuvok said, affronted. "Vulcans do not have fun."

       "Oh, don't raise your eyebrow at me, Tuvok, I know you too well." She looked again at Tom and Harry, who were looking ever more embarrassed. "So...what do you think? Is it time rescue our pilot and our operations officer from the Borg inquisition?"

       Tuvok considered. "Not yet. Let the 'fun' continue."

       Janeway laughed, surprised. "Why, there's hope for you yet, Tuvok," she said approvingly.


End file.
